DeepSeek R1: What devs should know about AI’s biggest shakeup

It’s not every day that an open-source AI model shakes the foundations of the AI world, but that’s exactly what DeepSeek did.

Within a week of its launch on January 20, 2025, DeepSeek’s R1 model and app climbed to the #1 spot on the U.S. App Store, surpassing ChatGPT. Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s stock plunged by $590+ billion as the industry realized the implications: powerful AI can now be trained without massive budgets or premium chips.

And every developer should be paying attention to how this all plays out. Here’s why.

By making advanced, open-source AI more accessible and affordable than ever, DeepSeek announced the start of a new era: one with powerful, cutting-edge AI tools. Companies that couldn’t afford to train their models now can—and they’ll need developers who can fine-tune, deploy, and innovate with these tools.

Here’s what we’re covering today:

• What makes DeepSeek’s V3 and R1 models revolutionary?

• How does DeepSeek stack up against AI heavyweights like GPT-4 and Claude?

• What does DeepSeek’s rise indicate about a new era of open-source innovation (and what does it mean for the future of AI development)?

Let’s dive in!